Sailing: New Zealanders go head to head at Oceanbridge NZL Sailing Regatta

Sam Meech. Photo / Supplied

Any regatta win is sweet but for Josh Porebski and Trent Rippey it tastes even better when it's over their trans-Tasman rivals and that's what they will be chasing tomorrow on the final day of the Oceanbridge NZL Sailing Regatta at Murrays Bay.

The New Zealand pair are sandwiched between a pair of Australian crews in the 49er, two points behind leaders William and Sam Phillips and one point ahead of David Gilmour and Joel Turner.

Porebski and Rippey sailed consistently well today in 12-15 knots of breeze, picking up two race wins and never finishing outside the top four in today's five races in the 15-boat fleet.

The 49er is one of the most competitive classes at the Oceanbridge NZL Sailing Regatta and has attracted a handful of top Australian crews and it's translated to good rivalry on the water.

"It's been bloody good," Rippey said. "We went over to Sydney late last year and raced against those boys. Dave and Joel got the better of us at the last event and that fired us up so that when we got home we did some hard training. Hopefully we can peg them back in this regatta and take them."

Lighter winds than the first two days are forecast tomorrow but Porebski said they haven't minded the big breezes.

"We have had two good days of big waves and challenging conditions, so that's been really good," he said. "The first day was full survival sailing. The more you can do that in a 49er and get comfortable, the better you will be in Europe because nine times out of 10 it's always windy over there."

New Zealand's top Laser sailors are also preparing for the European season and Sam Meech and Tom Saunders continued their close battle. Meech got the better of his fellow NZL Sailing Team member today with three wins and a second and will go into the final day with a one-point advantage over Saunders.

"I was up the front most of the day fighting it out with Tom," Meech said. "I ended up with a couple of firsts and a second. Tom and I have been pretty consistent so it starts again tomorrow."

Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders hold the lead going into the final day of the Nacra 17 class, but the scoreboard didn't tell the full story of the day.

Liv Mackay and Micah Wilkinson went to the aid of Christian Stephenson on the final race after the Dane had his leg sliced by the foiling catamaran's rudder. Stephenson's trapeze hook broke, sending him over the side of the boat and into the path of the rudder.

He was taken to hospital and was expected to undergo surgery and is likely to be off the water for some time. The class is under the spotlight after switching to foiling catamarans for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and this incident will prompt more discussion about safety after an American sailor lost three fingers last year.

The Oceanbridge NZL Sailing Regatta is New Zealand's premier event for Olympic and youth classes and has attracted close to 200 sailors, including about 90 from overseas.

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